“Young@Heart” – A+E Interactivehttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei
Bay Area Arts and Entertainment BlogFri, 02 Sep 2016 02:00:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3DVD reviews: `Made of Honor,’ `Young@Heart,’ `Speed Racer’http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/09/17/dvd-reviews-made-of-honor-youngheart-speed-racer/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/09/17/dvd-reviews-made-of-honor-youngheart-speed-racer/#respondThu, 18 Sep 2008 00:17:49 +0000http://www.ibabuzz.com/movies/?p=188McDreamy and McLuscious are made `of Honor’ In Europe some years ago, I took a side trip to Ireland, expecting the Emerald Isle to look like Shangri-La. It didnâ€™t, but Scotland did. And that countryâ€™s beauty permeates the second half… Continue Reading →

In Europe some years ago, I took a side trip to Ireland, expecting the Emerald Isle to look like Shangri-La. It didnâ€™t, but Scotland did.

And that countryâ€™s beauty permeates the second half of â€œMade of Honor,â€ an otherwise formulaic romantic comedy pairing Patrick â€œDr. McDreamyâ€ Dempsey as Tom with Michelle â€œMcLusciousâ€ Monaghan as Hannah.

The plotâ€™s your basic: Boy meets girl and they become best friends; girl goes to Scotland, comes back with a fiance (Kevin McKidd) and asks boy to be her â€œmaidâ€ of honor; boy realizes he loves girl and schemes to win her back.

You donâ€™t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce the rest.

The physical gags work well. Too much timeâ€™s spent with Tom and his b-ball-playing buddies, and Paul Weilandâ€™s direction needs some shots of bubbly.

But McLuscious is a doll and McDreamy is McDreamy; he doesnâ€™t do much, but itâ€™s enough.

The film bears some similarities to â€œMy Best Friendâ€™s Wedding,â€ but where the latter was mean-spirited, this oneâ€™s sweet as McLuscious. OK, fine: and McDreamy.

Extras: Directorâ€™s commentary; options of full screen or wide screen on same copy.

Pick of the week

If youâ€™re wallowing in â€œOh, poor me,â€ you must see â€œYoung@Heart.â€ Even if youâ€™re feeling at the top of your game, this look at the Young@Heart singers, average age 80, will take you higher.

They arenâ€™t all in the best of health â€” the documentary addresses death as well as life â€” but they love to sing and perform; with some, the choirâ€™s their reason to get up in the morning.

An enthusiastic bunch laced with eccentrics, group members are seen in rehearsals, at home, on the road and in performance. â€œYoung@Heartâ€ gives you a good sense of who they are and entertains at the same time.

Watching them win a standing O for Allen Toussaintâ€™s â€œYes We Can Can,â€ a song that mentions â€œcanâ€ 71 times, after struggling with it for weeks, feels exhilarating.

Joy and poignancy and joy are the prevailing emotions in this warm and upbeat look at aging with grace.

Extras: All the deleted scenes are worthwhile (oneâ€™s a â€œPurple Hazeâ€ solo); entertaining music videos; a short on preparing for a concert in Hollywood is so-so.

The Wachowskis in â€˜Racerâ€™ land

Eye candy can be blinding; pass it on. The Wachowski brothers (â€œThe Matrixâ€ trilogy) misplaced their mojo with â€œSpeed Racer,â€ an unwatchable, hyper-real adaptation of the animated TV series.

The series is easier to follow.

The film assaults you with visuals, turning itself into a blur of Maxfield Parrish, the animated â€œAlice in Wonderland,â€ â€œPushing Daisiesâ€™â€ backgrounds, flashbacks on top of flashbacks and overlapping scenes.

Kids with very short attention spans may not mind; most sequences run shorter than commercials.

Emile Hirsch plays the title character as a grown-up, trying to atone for his older brotherâ€™s undeserved bad rep, bring art back to racing and win. The races play and look like video games.

What Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and Christina Ricci are doing here is beyond me. The chimpâ€™s pretty good, though. Also on Blu-ray.

Extras: Set tour; making-of piece on the drivers, cars and tracks.

Also on DVD

â€œBefore the Rainsâ€: Businessman (Linus Roache) tries to build a road in 1930s Southern India to access the site for new spice plantation; he also has an affair with his housekeeper.

â€œBreaking the Mayan Codeâ€: Documentary about the struggle to unlock it.

â€œ88 Minutesâ€: Voice on phone tells forensic psychologist Al Pacino he has 88 minutes to live (or maybe he turns 88; I forget which). Instead of making whoopee or going for the Ben & Jerryâ€™s, he tries to find his nemesis; also on Blu-ray.

â€œFinding Rin Tin Tinâ€: U.S. fighter pilot and his loyal German Shepherd help the military in World War I; based on a true story.

â€œKablueyâ€: Lisa Kudrowâ€™s slacker brother-in-law (writer-director Scott Prendergast) takes a job as a corporate mascot (Kabluey, whoâ€™s blue) to support her and her young sons while her husbandâ€™s in Iraq; off-kilter comedy.

â€œLadies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stainsâ€: Restored â€™81 film about misfit teenage girls who start a punk band; with Diane Lane, Laura Dern, members of the Sex Pistols.